WASHINGTON – Leaders of both the Senate and House Judiciary Committees today called on the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission to work with the U.S. Trade Representative to make strong competition provisions a central part of upcoming trade negotiations. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), encouraged the federal antitrust agencies to include a competition chapter in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to establish a high standard for competition chapters in future trade negotiations.
“While it may be difficult to bridge substantive differences in antitrust law in the short-term, American companies should be guaranteed the same high standard of procedural rights before a foreign antitrust agency that foreign firms are afforded before the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission in the United States. Securing a foundational understanding with regard to non-discrimination, transparency, and due process among antitrust agencies as part of a trade negotiation will help to ensure that antitrust enforcement remains apolitical and based on sound antitrust principles,” the chairmen said in the letter to the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission.
Grassley and Goodlatte asserted that including competition chapters in trade agreements is increasingly important as antitrust agencies are becoming more prevalent in other nations, many of which operate in a less transparent manner and harbor protectionist objectives. Upcoming NAFTA negotiations provide an ideal opportunity for the United States to demonstrate strong leadership in promoting competition and fairness through transparency and due process.
Full text of the Chairmen’s letter to the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission
